Have you seen this amazing rig on your travels?
Over the last six years, Graeme Harrison has spent
a lot of time and money to realise a dream of
travelling around Australia in a slightly different style.
“I've been around Australia twice before. Once when I was 20 and again when I was 30, and I always figured that for the third time I would like to do it by boat or by helicopter,” Mr Harrison said. “But the idea of pulling up in a town and flying when the weather was appropriate appealed more than flying everywhere.”
So over the
last six years Mr Harrison built the American-designed Rotorway kit helicopter to precision specifications, and to
cart it around the 19-metre long truck and
trailer set up, which houses not only the helicopter, but living quarters complete with a double bed, full kitchen and
air conditioning which runs on solar power.
“All up I've spent somewhere north of half a million dollars on the rig and trip, and I’m
funding the trip entirely myself,” Mr Harrison said.
A mechanical
engineer by trade, Mr Harrison said he always loved helicopters, and that he
had around 80 hours flight time in small choppers before he decided to build his own.
“Anyone can
build one, technically. But not just anyone can take on the task,” he said.
“They’re not
a Meccano set to build... if you don’t know what you’re doing what you put together isn't going to fly or it’s
going to kill you.”
To keep
himself occupied along the circumnavigation of the country, Mr Harrison has also been filming while flying with five
XD Replay cameras mounted on his chopper, two
quad-copter remote control drones with GoPro’s attached and while on
foot around wherever he has parked.
Follow Graeme's adventure at his blog and Facebook page.
www.aussieheliadventure.blogspot.com
Written by Sandy Powell from the Augusta-Margaret
River Mail
